When it comes to shoes, Everlane is known for its timeless silhouettes and minimalist collections. But the brand is veering towards something a little more trendy with its latest shoe line drop. Everlane is launching Tread by Everlane (offered in women’s sizes 5 to 12,) a new unisex sneaker brand that is all about the dad sneaker.
The trainers are chunky in silhouette, and come in seven different colors: off white, glacier, grey, navy, butter, pale pink, and black. But while they are on-trend with the ’90s shoes that all fashion lovers want, the Tread sneakers are also environmentally friendly. Everlane is on a mission to make the world’s lowest-impact sneakers.
The fashion industry is the second biggest polluter in the world, second to the oil industry. Billions of shoes end up in landfills, and they have a massive carbon footprint since they are mostly made from virgin plastic. That means that new plastic is made in order to create the collections, only increasing the waste crisis on the planet. In fact, there are 8 billion tons of plastic on earth right now.
The shoe industry is especially disastrous for the environment, seeing how quickly sneakers are traded in for newer models. That’s part of the reason why Everlane never wanted to launch sneakers — they were too trendy and disposable.
Tread by Everlane is looking to correct that problem. Everlane has committed to remove all virgin plastic from its supply chain by 2021, and the brand took its first step towards that goal with the launch of the ReNew collection last fall.
ReNew is a collection of outerwear that used three million recycled plastic bottles in its designs. The plastic is melted down and used to create fine thread, which is then spun into yarn and woven into sheets of polyester fleece, fabric, and insulation. That’s what ReNew’s fleeces and coats are made from.
Thread by Everlane is the next step in the brand’s zero-plastic plan, starting with Thread’s first style: The Trainer. The shoe took two years to design and is promised to be carbon neutral.
The sole of the shoe is mostly free of unrecycled plastic, and the leather is made at a factory that has less of an environmental impact than the usual shoe manufacturer. Specifically, the leather comes from Saigon TanTec in Vietnam, which uses solar energy in its production process. TanTec uses 42% less electricity and 56% less water than the leaders in its industry.
The laces and linings of the sneakers are made from recycled plastic, and the soles are made from a blend of natural rubber and recycled rubber. This makes the sole of the shoe 94.2% virgin plastic-free.
But no product is truly carbon free, which is why Everlane partnered with Pure Strategies to figure out the environmental impact of the new shoe. It turns out that 84% of the shoe’s greenhouse emissions come from the cattle farms that are used to create leather for the shoe. In order to offset those emissions, Everlane partnered with the carbon offset group NativeEnergy, which supports and funds projects that make cow grazing more sustainable.
Tread by Everlane launches on April 25, and each shoe clocks in at $98. You can now complete your Everlane look with a chic pair of dad shoes, all without hurting the environment.
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